An Augusta woman who prepared fraudulent tax returns causing the U.S. Treasury to issue $541,912 in false tax refunds must repay the money and serve 22 months in prison.
Kim Brown, 40, of Augusta, was sentenced this week after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Meg Heap.
“In collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we continue to pursue those who defraud the government,” Heap said. “Kim Brown stole money from taxpayers, and this sentence holds her accountable.”
U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall sentenced Brown to 22 months in federal prison. He ordered her to pay $541,912 in restitution and serve one year of supervised release after completing her prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Brown was acting as what prosecutors call a “ghost preparer” of income tax returns. She fabricated income to qualify her clients for tax credits, claimed fake deductions to enlarge refunds and charged a fee based on a percentage of the refund, the statement said.
Brown did not provide clients a copy of the tax returns she prepared, review them with clients or sign off on them before filing them electronically. She was working with another ghost preparer not identified in the statement.
“Not signing off on a tax return is just one of the signs someone is acting as a ghost preparer,” said Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman with IRS Criminal Investigations, Atlanta Field Office. “Today’s sentencing of Kim Brown is an example of IRS Criminal Investigation special agents working diligently to protect taxpayers from dishonest tax preparers and a notification to the public of just one scheme utilized by ghost tax preparers.”
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigations and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs, III.
